The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1887-06-30
Our Evening Sermon

"Ye hypocrites, We can discern the
face of the sky and of the earth; but
how is it We can not discern this time?"
12-56.
Christ III speaking to the multitude,
called attention to the fact that men
will look to the cloud. and know that
the rain will cnnie, and feel the South
wind, and know that it will be warm;
yet i'll p matter Of far greater import
ance, as for instance the welfare OF
the soul, they will be utterly blind.
There seems to be painful tendency
in the human character to overlook
important things, and cling to those
Of far less importance. Who has not
seen a young lady at a Church service,
who was extremely solicitous of her
personal appearance. Or young man
whose interest in the sermon was sadly
nlarred by being compelled to cast
fugitive glances at his shirt-front OF
watch chain? These things we can
see, but the great hidden benefit to
the soul, we can not discern. We can
detect the course Of human thought,
often, by the action Of the man; we
can fathom the depths Of the human
purpose, we can reconcile passing
events with the trend of human his
tory. Yet the great fact of abundant
provision made for the welfare and
Joy Of the human soul beyond the
limit of this life, we lose sight of al
together, at least such is frequently
the case.
We knew a young man who was
full of the noblest aspirations, and
who possessed excellencies Of character
that fitted him to adorn almost any
station in life. Of the most pleasant
family relations, surrounded by friends
the future seemed to possess but
brightness and great promise for him.
In an unguarded moment, a friendly
asked to join gay company in taking
something calculated to give joy and
mirth to the manhood. The hour
when he acceded to that request was
the worst in the history Of that soul.
He could discern the face of the sky
and the earth-but that was all.
Along down the years that one
went, along the road mapped out by
the demon which took possession of
him Oh that fatal night. The smile
of supposed friend or the twinge OF
an advderse circumstance was enough
to claim the qualification of the false
appetite, from day to day, and the
road from health to frailty, from re-
spectability to degradation, was one Of
rapid transit At last the stunning,
awful reality dawned upon the shrink
ing soul. That man was dr~nkard.
He could read, in his earlier, sober
moments, the ordinary signs of the
human experience, but he could not
discern his danger in the direction IN
which his downfall finally came.
Such is the character of this terri
bic traffic that the main point of dan
ger is generally, if not always, hidden
by cloak Of deception. The demon
of intemperance ever attacks a man
in his weakest point-his vanity.
Were the better nature tosstep forward
and assert the danger, the demon ap-
peals to the manhood" and cries
"shame-can you not assert your in
dependence, and personal liberty?"
Then comes the total blindness of
self-conceit, and unless: a food-light
Of reason can in some way be turned
on, the man is gone. The same de-
mon spirit attacks men who really dc
not partake Of the poison themselves
and these, joined to the habitual Or oc-
casional imbihers, make strong in
fuence for the evil. Those who thus
assist in the evil work Of of the de-
mon build around themselves a gilt
tering wall Of Imagination, which de-
fies any moral Or religious influence
to penetrate it. So strong-or, rather,
so glittering-becomes this wall, that
those on the inside imagine the out
side world to be in utter darkness and
ignorance. They can see public opin-
ion only as they shape it themselves
within the wall of conceit.
In this attitude they go forward,
rejoicing in their own Importance,
and enlarging upon their indiscretion.
Outside this pale Of conceit and igno-
rance, there has been gathering, per-
haps, the cooling breeze of reason and
nobility Of purpose. and as things
have progressed and heated up inside
the enclosure, so the breeze increases
to a gale, veritable cyclone, and at
one blast down goes the polished wall,
and away goes the Importance Of the
builder. The trouble becomes appar-
ent, at once. Those on the inside of
this limited circle Of sin had by their
own acts shut out the evidence of